


Depths of Dumb

by niawen



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Gen, Mavin if you squint, gen - Freeform, minecraft au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-02
Updated: 2014-06-02
Packaged: 2018-02-03 02:07:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1727207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niawen/pseuds/niawen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Michael and Gavin run into some trouble down in a chasm with no supplies to make the escape any easier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Depths of Dumb

God fuck damn shit.

It wasn't as though this was unexpected, per se.  

In fact, the frequency of mishaps like this was mindfuckingly common.

Like are-you-fucking-kidding-me-it-happened-again kind of common.

Every-fucking-time common.

Or even I'm-a-fucking-moron-for-thinking-this-time-would-be-different common.

"Michael."

I-don't-know-why-I-thought-anything-different-would-happen-oh-yes-I-do-I'm-fucking-stupid-

"Michael."

Shit cock fuck bitch mother -

" _Michael_."

"What, Gavin!?"

"That was close, wasn't it."

Michael swelled in barely contained fury as Gavin stood by obliviously, his eyes cast downwards into the abyss they were currently overlooking.  Michael's teeth gnashed against his lip for a moment, battling the desire to scream in rage and shove that stupid, hopeless idiot straight down into the depths of lava and water at the bottom of the chasm.

Gavin stood recklessly close to the ledge, still singed and dirty from his latest mishap- one that involved trying to fight off two prowling creepers by shoving enthusiastically past Michael and had involved quite a lot of hysterical, high pitched screaming and which had resulted in them nearly being blown off the narrow ledge.

Their packs, unfortunately, did not escape the blast unscathed.  Actually they were on fire, blazing away on the other side of the gap they could not cross.  

Michael sighed dejectedly.  It was still sort of amazing that he didn't keep extra supplies elsewhere on his person just for Gavin-induced emergencies.  Jesus, he would have to figure something out, something that preferably did not involve them using their bare hands to burrow through straight rock and earth for who knows how long.

Gavin turned around and smiled a little lopsidedly at Michael's grim face.  "I didn't even see the bastards until they were climbing on you.  What now?"

"We find a way out, stupid," Michael said, giving up and running his palm over the solid rock wall they had been leaning against.

He moved past Gavin, ignoring his lanky, slouching frame with the familiarity of someone who no longer concerned himself with polite boundaries.  Gavin, like usual, fell into step behind Michael without a fuss, looking interestedly around the gaping rift in solid earth that opened up around them.  They both knew that no torches meant more hostile monsters creeping up on them, but while Michael felt this was just another inconvenience on a long, long list, Gavin merely felt that it would certainly make for an interesting afternoon- And Michael fucking knew it, of course.

He lead the way in silence for a long while, broken only by the occasional observation made by Gavin, trailing along behind him like a preoccupied toddler.  Michael sighed morosely.  Of all those who lived up top in the City, Michael was probably closest to Gavin… unfortunately, that didn’t mean he understood the other man very well.

Gavin was from somewhere else.  Somewhere that must exist on the other side of the damn planet, if you asked Michael.  He had a weird dialect, he said weird things… they had found him a long, long time ago (so long ago the Michael had been little more than a child himself and he barely remembered Geoff’s taut, pale face and his clenched jaw as he’d led the others to the partially caved in niche near the coastal cliffs, where they'd found the skinny little runt soaked and filthy and scared witless of them).

Geoff had, of course, pretty powerful protective instincts (it was why he was the impromptu leader, of course) and they had been awakened with jarring force at the sight of the lanky, filthy little boy Gavin had been when they’d found him.  Of course, he’d nearly caused a full cave in trying to escape from Geoff, scrabbling like an animal at the walls around him.  

Michael did remember that Ryan had finally told Geoff to get out of his damn way and he had clambered into the hole himself, speaking slowly and quietly to the half-wild, half-drowned youth, talking to him as though he were a skittish beast.

He remembered standing behind Jack’s broad frame with Ray (also hardly more than a child) as- after several long, tense moment- Ryan successfully led the boy out.  

Gavin had not remembered what had lead him to be washed ashore, only that he’d gone into the hole to hide from creepers.  He couldn’t remember much about where he was from, or how to get home.  He had remembered his name, however, and after a week or so, he had told them.

Michael (and most of the others, he thought) suspected this to be a large amount of bullshit.  How could he remember his name but nothing else?  He’d spent a few weeks bullying the expat a little but Gavin seemed to be passive and submissive by nature and was largely unpreturbed by Michael's bossy demands.

Gavin got along with everybody, for the most part.  Though he seemed to revel in being annoying on purpose… Michael supposed that if he wanted to be eloquent and flattering, he could have said that Gavin loved to make people laugh.  Michael didn’t want to be articulate and nice, however, and tended to call it what it was- Gavin was a stupid fucking idiot that would probably set himself on fire if it got other people to pay attention to him.  

Yeah, so Michael felt like he really shouldn’t be surprised that Gavin had shoved past him and set off two creepers.  He’d been trying to help the hopeless moron with his bladeplay and while he’d been seeing some surprising improvement, it had bolstered Gavin’s confidence into pure reckless idiocy.

“Michael.”

“Oh my god, Gavin.   _What!?_ ”

“I hear water.”

Michael froze.  He heard it now, too.  Coming from a hole just large enough to squeeze through.  An open passage leading up would be much easier and less dangerous and taxing than trying to dig out on their own.  He rushed forward and Gavin loped along behind him.

He pressed through the opening, confident at least that this was going to get them somewhere closer to the surface instead of killed and Gavin was right behind him as he made his way up the jagged tunnel.  “With any luck we’ll be able to work our way higher here…  Stay alert, there could be anything up ahead.”

Gavin pulled out his sword and while Michael’s first instinct was to tell him to put that the hell away, he pursed his lips after a moment and didn’t say anything.  “And you better do what I tell you to.  No god damn heroics, you nerd, understand?”

Gavin pulled a pouty face but he wasn’t able to keep from grinning mischievously.  “Aw, you never let me do anything.”

“Mostly cause I don’t wanna die,” Michael returned irritably.  “Besides, Geoff’s already convinced that teaching you to fight’s only gonna get you killed faster.  I hate it when that smug asshole’s right.”

“You said I’d been doing much better!”  Gavin sqwawked.  His tone was still a little theatrically pouty but the dumb grin plastered across his face quickly ruined any sincerity.  Michael isn’t quite sure why this is so humorous, but he continues to climb the passage in impeded.

“You are.  But that doesn’t mean you should rush in to take on a bunch of mobs.  Just do what I tell you.”  

They were silent for a long while after that, Gavin following in a rare, compliant silence while Michael continued to forge ahead, his sword held tightly in his hand as he moved around the dark, dank corridor.  At the peak of the incline they found the water source- a small stream gushing from a fissure in the wall, heading back down another divergent path.  Michael eyed the fissure beadily, craning around the rocky ledge to peer up it.

“Anything up there?” Gavin asked mildly.

“Can’t see shit without torches, but it looks like it goes up a ways.”  Michael sheathed his blade and straightened out.  “Get up there and don’t go far, you hear me?”

Gavin nodded without another word and squeezed his gangly frame into the narrow crevice, bracing his long legs against the wall and hefting himself up, sputtering as he tried to keep from swallowing manky cave water.

Michael turned around with a trained paranoia, trying to see if they had been followed and that Gavin was covered as he made his way up into the next chamber.  Everything was quiet, at least, and Michael finally felt like he could release the breath he’d been unconsciously holding.

There was a sudden, deafening _TWANG_ followed by a shrill shout.

" _Micool!_ Bloody fuckin' hell- OW! MICOOL!!"

"God _damn_ it!" Michael shouted, his face screwed up with a desperate lividity.  He shot up the wet fissure, splashing frantically as gloved hands found jagged handholds and he launched himself upward.  Gavin was writhing on the ground just next to the opening as the rattling shape of a bleached skeleton moved in closer, its bow knocked and drawn taut.

Michael charged forward. The good thing about skeletons, at least, was that if you beat them with the flat of a sword, they usually fell apart after a strike or two.  Literally.

Michael sheathed the weapon and continued cursing up a violent hailstorm under his breath.  Gavin was pulling himself to a sitting position, hissing through his teeth in pain.  

"Are you okay- oh _shit_."

Gavin chuckled weakly, looking a little tight with pain as he looked at his right arm and the arrow stuck clean through it.  He touched it gingerly and hissed again.  "It's not so bad...  Just need to get back and have Jack...  take a look.   Maybe stitch me up a bit."

Michael hovered anxiously for a moment.   "Okay, we can... We can get you patched up a little here. Hold still."

"Is this going to hurt?" Gavin asked, suddenly anxious. "Michael, wait! It's going to AAGHH!"

Michael snapped the shaft in half and pulled the piece embedded in Gavin's bicep away.

"Bollocks, that _hurt_!"

"Well, we can't get out of here with that fucking thing sticking out of you," Michael snarked.  "Gimme your scarf, I'm gonna wrap it."

"Aw," Gavin moaned thinly, clutching his creeper scarf protectively under his pale face.  "It'll get ruined!"

"Your arm or the scarf, Gavin!"

Gavin stuck out his lower lip for a second before he regretfully unwound the long swatch of fabric and passed it over, sighing dejectedly.  Michael wrapped it around his arm tightly, forcing it up a little and fashioning a makeshift sling.

"Fucking idiot.  That'll have to do for now.  Get up, let's get the hell out of here."

He helped Gavin to his feet and pulled him along for a few unnecessary paces before he let go and let the taller hunter move along quietly behind him.  Gavin hissed in pain every few steps, sighing intermittently every few moments.   He really liked that scarf.  It had been a lot of work to make and a pain to dye (literally, since he had to boil down a massive amount of pokey cactus).  Still, he didn’t actually open his mouth to complain to Michael, still reeling and a little bit and dizzy from bloodloss.

The darkness seemed to crush in on the pair of them from all sides while, occasionally, Michael would put his ear to the wall and listen for some tell tale sign that they were reaching the surface.  The had been inclining steadily upwards for the better part of an hour, now, and Gavin was sort of mindlessly confident that the other hunter would find his way out of the mob-infested network of caverns.

“It’s raining.” Michael said suddenly, much later.  Gavin snapped from his haze of pain-induced thoughts and paused, his large feet scuffing against the cave floor.  Michael was right.  The steady rush of fat raindrops and wind was reaching them.  Gavin perked up noticeably as Michael rushed forward and put his fingertips to the dark soil at the top of the wall.  “Fuck yeah, it’s damp.  We’re close.  I’m gonna dig up, stay close and tell me if you hear _anything_.”

“Yeah, if you could hurry along with that, I’d appreciate it.  I want to keep my arm from getting rot,” Gavin mumbled a little mutinously under his breath.  

Michael shot him one intense, fuck-you face before he turned and slowly began to burrow upwards with this hands and his sheathed sword.  Gavin leaned up against the stone wall and closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in a little heavily as another wave of nasueating pain crashed over him.  At least Jack was an accomplished medic… hell Geoff was damn good too.  At least between the both of them his arm should be up and in working order shortly.  He was glad Michael hadn’t tried to fix it more.  The shorter hunter might have been great with a blade and a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, but he was a bloody fucking disaster when it came to healing or really anything that took a steady hand and patience.  Michael was definitely not known for his patience.

Gavin let the _thunk-scrape-scrape-thunk_ of Michael’s clumsy digging lull him for a time.  Trying to focus on the feel of the stone against his bony shoulders instead of the throbbing in his arm or the churning in his stomach.  

When a quiet, breathy hiss reached his ears, Gavin straightened in alarm and opened his eyes.

Two creepers were sniffing the lower part of the path where’d they’d crawled up and Gavin froze as one straightened out and looked directly at him, its toothless mouth gaping its black eyes fixed on him.  The other creeper immediately took note and they both began moving closer, stalking forward with the kind of unhurried patience only found in predators at the top of the food chain.

“Michael.  Michael.   _Micool!_ ” Gavin hissed, trying not to scream and trying not to dissolve into complete hysterics.

 _Scrape-thunk-thunk-scrape_.

Gavin was alone, for the moment. His left hand inched towards his blade and the nearer of the two creepers let out a low, threatening _hsssssss_ at the movement.  Gavin stopped moving as the creepers drew closer… close enough to blow.

Nothing happened for a moment and Gavin stood there stupidly, his left arm raised slightly and his eyes wide and confused.  The creepers weren’t blowing.  Instead they stopped at about arms-length and just stared.  Gavin’s eyes darted to the side and widened even further.  They were eyeing his scarf- the creeper face he had painted on it stared back at them in a friendly sort of way (Gavin had always thought it somehow looked as though it was grinning).  He took note of his own green tunic and stayed perfectly still as the creepers continued to examine him closely, inching closer to his body by the second.

“Mi-” the first syllable out of his mouth warranted another hiss from the creepers and a startled recoil- one that startled Gavin too.  He took a deep breath and slowly moved his arm out wide, the creepers watched him but did not react, silent and terrifying and deadly.  He took a step forward and the creepers mirrored him by backing up a pace.

There was a quiet shower of raw earth as Michael turned around in the cramped, muddy hole he was digging and stuck his head back down.  “Gavin, did you say some- _Gavin_!”

“Shhh,” Gavin hissed softly, too afraid to actually speak with the creepers still staring at him, moving backwards as he took another step forward.  Both mobs answered with another hiss and Michael couldn’t do anything but watch in a transfixed horror.

One of the creepers’ dirty, black little eyes shifted to michael and it hissed angrily, moving suddenly away from gavin as though to push past him to where Michael was perched on the ledge of the hole.  Gavin sidestepped aggressively and blocked the way, still holding his arm out and staring down at the two mobs.  The diverted creeper hissed but this time it sounded petulant and acquiescing.  Gavin let out another low hiss and took another step.  The creepers retreated as he advanced and finally, mercifully, they both turned their hellish faces back towards the depths and left without another sound, leaving Gavin standing in the open chamber panting in terror with his stupid, gangling arm outflung for long frozen minutes.

“What the _fuck_ was that!?” Michael breathed a few moments later, when the insanity of what had just happened managed to sink into their brains.

Gavin turned around, shaking a little and looking wide eyed.  “Micool.  Micool, no one is ever going to believe this.”

“I’m not sure _I_ believe it.”

Gavin grinned.  It was his big, I’m-a-fucking-reckless-idiot grin and Michael rolled his eyes and went back to the mud.

  
  



End file.
